Troops of the 4th Infantry Division suffered at least 11 casualties in six different offensive actions launched by the New People’s Army in North Central Mindanao Region in the first month of 2015. At least six were killed and five were wounded among Armed Forces of the Philippines and paramilitary forces, counting among the casualties a military asset, while the NPA suffered no casualties.

Despite the 4th Infantry Division’s insistence that it strictly abides by the Suspension of Military Operations (SOMO) order of their puppet president, their military operations in the countryside continue unhampered. The masses have had no respite from the AFP’s terrorism even during the traditional holidays and the visit of the Catholic Pope.

It was only just for the New People’s Army to launch military actions against them.

In January 7, a unit of the New People’s Army under Front 4a disarmed and killed two infamous, active members of the counterrevolutionary BULIF, Datu Tahinaan and his son Itom, residents of Simbalan, Buenavista, Agusan del Norte, who have long terrorized villagers, destroyed whole communities, and grabbed farmlands and falcatta groves.

In January 22, around 2:00 PM, an NPA team under Front 6 harassed a COPD unit of the AFP stationed in Sitio Sarok-Sarok, Barangay (village) Cawayan, Quezon, Bukidnon. A corporal of the 4th Scout Ranger Battalion was killed while five others were wounded, including their commanding officer, 1st Lt. Jerrel Lapinig.

January 23, around 3:00 PM, another NPA team under Front 88 harassed COPD troops of the 26th Infantry Battalion’s Bravo Company in Sitio Tambo, Barangay Binicalan, San Luis, Agusan del Sur. Two AFP troops were reportedly killed while an undetermined number were wounded in this incident.

The revolutionary movement continues to punish the vicious 26th Infantry Battalion for its bloody record of human rights violations against Lumads and peasants. The starkest fascist act they have committed of late was the murder of Barangay Captain Nicasio “Angis” Precioso Sr. of Balit, San Luis last December 22, 2014.

In January 7, around 6:00 AM, an NPA squad under Front 88 simultaneously harassed the COPD unit stationed in the social hall and the detachment of the 26th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Mahagsay, San Luis, Agusan del Sur. The 26th IB uses the terrorist paramilitary group, Bagani Force to terrorize the residents of 13 communities in Mahagsay and Binicalan, with a combined population of around 1,500 people. Residents of these communities have received verbal and written threats that they will be massacred unless they consent to join Bagani Force and augment the garrison in Mahagsay.

This is the reason for the evacuation of the residents of these communities starting in the third week of this month. Through COPD, residents were forced to consent to the already delayed entry of the foreign mining corporation, Metroluxury Mining, which will dispossess the Banwaon tribe of their ancestral lands.

January 28, 6:00 PM, an NPA team under Front 88 harassed the detachment in Km. 41, Barangay Binicalan, San Luis. The number of enemy casualties is yet to be confirmed.

January 29, an NPA team killed Lauro Honasa, a military asset, in Mandakpan, San Vicente, Butuan City. A .357 revolver was confiscated from his person.

In the remaining year of the trigger-happy BS Aquino government, we can only expect that it will intensify its counterrevolutionary military operations, especially in Lumad and peasant communities in the countryside. But this militaristic formula of the regime has repeatedly been proven futile. The bloody battle in Maguindanao where the lives of 44 Special Action Force policemen were sacrificed in a useless “antiterrorist” operation exposes the ineptness of BS Aquino as commander-in-chief. This will further inflame the people’s already seething indignation.

In our region, we must further intensify our tactical offensives to foil his militarist solution. This will directly support the wide mass movement in the entire country for the ouster of the puppet, corrupt and inept president, BS Aquino.